Gary Basaraba
Gary Basaraba (March 16, 1959, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian-American actor best known for playing American police officers. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's Brooklyn South and Officer Ray Heckler on the critically acclaimed but shortly lived Boomtown. He also played a role as an officer investigating the disappearance of Diane Lane’s French lover in the film Unfaithful. According to the DVD commentary for the first season of the police drama Boomtown, he did most of his driving stunts in the series and he made sure he accurately portrayed police procedures. He entered the Yale School of Drama at age 20. As a graduate of the Class of '82, he began his film career immediately working for Louis Malle in Alamo Bay (1985). The list of directors that have chosen him to bring their films to life includes Martin Scorsese, Louis Malle, Karel Reisz, Adrian Lyne, Tony Scott, Alan Rudolph, Errol Morris, and many others. He has appeared in all genres of film and television, from cutting edge art films such as The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), to beloved classics such as Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), and, the popular animated series of Smurf films. Having starred in several television series, including the Peabody Award-winning Boomtown (2002), and appearing in many Emmy winning series such as Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and Mad Men (2007), as a recurring guest star, he maintains a reputation as a fine actor with an unusual range from Everyman to every man's worst nightmare. He remains a Canadian citizen, but has enjoyed a career primarily in the United Sates having resided in New York City and Los Angeles for over 30 years. Basaraba played Heywood Broun, one of the greatest American journalists of the 20th century, in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle in 1994. He played Sheriff Grady Kilgore in Fried Green Tomatoes. He also played Saint Andrew in The Last Temptation of Christ, and had a role in Sweet Dreams. In 2001 he had the lead role in Recipe for Murder. Basaraba portrayed the father, Jack Grainger, in One Magic Christmas, opposite Mary Steenburgen, and played Homer Zuckerman in the remake of Charlotte's Web. Since 2007, he has appeared in the Canadian television series Mixed Blessings. Basaraba has also made three appearances in the Law & Order franchise, as a bartender in the original series episode titled "Point of View", as a corrections officer in the Law & Order episode "The Brotherhood" in 2004, and in the SVU episode entitled "Parasites", as the husband of a woman who has gone missing. In 2010, he played the role of Jimmy Burke in After Hours, the tenth episode of the first season of the CBS police procedural drama Blue Bloods. Basaraba also played the role of Herb Rennet in the television series Mad Men. Basaraba was the voice of Hefty Smurf in the live-action/CG family film The Smurfs. In 2015, he played the role of Neil on an episode of The Leftovers. In 2016, he played the role of Don in The Accountant. In the Martin Scorsese 2019 epic crime film The Irishman, Basaraba played Frank "Fitz" Fitzsimmons who was the acting president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1967 to 1971, and president from 1971 to 1981. Category:Actors from Canada